In mid-July, Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested that Ontario would not be implementing a so-called ‘vaccine passport’ despite his government’s having previously suggested otherwise. But at the same time, private businesses and retailers in Ontario have been implementing their own versions of this divisive concept, some insisting that only those vaccinated may enter their premises, while others insist that those vaccinated may not enter their premises.

Either way, these establishments are guilty of discrimination and should be held accountable for these discriminatory practices. So says our guest Paul McKeever in a position paper developed for the Freedom Party of Ontario. “Outlaw vaccination discrimination now!” suggests Paul, applying arguments and principles rarely heard (or understood) in the discussion of this very serious controversy. Up till now, the issue has been polarized and argued in an intellectual, moral, and philosophical vacuum, with each side blind to the strict context within which such a discussion is valid – the context of free trade.

Forgotten in the debate is the necessary acknowledgement that humans are rational beings and that the exercise of one’s rational faculty is essential to trade. Trade is based on consent, without which any exchange of goods or services cannot even be called trade.

Trade, therefore, requires an equal application of the law to all participants in any potential or actual exchange. Law facilitates trade. Indeed, both ‘property’ and ‘trade’ are creations of law. The belief that private ownership empowers owners (engaged in trade) with a right to discriminate against selected members of the public is false. No such right exists, which is why not even governments have any such right.

This is an issue that transcends mere economic considerations or principles of supply and demand. Capitalism is a moral system and both ‘property’ and ‘trade,’ while creations of law, are moral concepts. The law must reflect this reality because to do so is not only non-discriminatory but Just Right.

[- This broadcast is dedicated to the memory of Ted Harlson -]